A vaporization type humidification device includes a filter unit which is formed in a disk shape, cylindrical shape, or the like and has water absorption properties and air permeability (see Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. S54-172568, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-74429, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-302077, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-37076, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-24959, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-52875, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-32314).
The humidification devices disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. S54-172568, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-24959, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-52875 supply water to the filter unit by immersing a portion of a peripheral portion of the disk-shaped filter unit disposed in a vertical attitude into a water tank. In this case, the filter unit absorbs water. The humidification device further includes a blower, whereby when the blower operates, a humidification operation is carried out.
Air outside of a device (for example, an interior with a humidification device installed therein) is sucked during the humidification operation and the air sucked therein passes from one surface of the water absorbing filter unit to the other surface thereof. In this case, the water absorbed into the filter unit is vaporized and then air (that is, humidified air) containing the vaporized water is sent to an outside of the device.
The filter unit is rotatably supported in a circumferential direction so as to allow the whole filter unit to effectively absorb water. The humidification device further includes a rotation driving mechanism for rotating the filter unit.
The filter unit during the humidification operation continuously rotates in a circumferential direction by the operation of the rotation driving mechanism. In this case, a peripheral portion of the filter unit continuously immerses and absorbs water in the circumferential direction, and further sucks water from the peripheral portion to a central portion thereof. From the above result, water is effectively spread uniformly over the whole of the filter unit.
According to the above-described humidification device, the absorption of water into the filter unit is facilitated by the rotation of the filter unit.
Meanwhile, there is a conventional humidification device which uses a water wheel to sprinkle water to the filter unit. A peripheral portion of the water wheel is provided with a plurality of concave portions in parallel and the water wheel rotates by the rotation driving mechanism, so that each concave portion is supplied with water from a water tank and the water stored in each concave portion is sent to the filter unit and is supplied to the interior.